Hours after Kosovo declared itself an "independent and democratic state" on Sunday, sources in Jerusalem said Israel would not be among the first group of countries to recognize the new nation's sovereignty.
"In principle, Israel does not support unilateral processes like these," the sources told Army Radio.
The Foreign Ministry has not yet issued an official response on the matter.
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Meanwhile, Russia tried to block Kosovo's independence during a closed-door emergency session of the UN Security Council on Sunday, saying
it is deeply concerned about the safety of Serbs living in the territory.
The 15-member council is deeply divided on the future of Kosovo. Russia backs its close ally Serbia, while the United States, Britain, France and other European Union members are supporting the Kosovo Albanians.
The council met at the request of Russia, which argues that Kosovo's
declaration of independence from Serbia made earlier Sunday violates a 1999 council resolution.
The session got off to a rocky start; shortly after it began, the meeting had to be suspended for a couple of hours because of a lack of interpreters.
At issue before the Security Council is the contention by Serbia and Russia that a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders constitutes a violation of a 1999 UN resolution providing for Kosovo to be administered by the UN and NATO troops and that Serbia's territorial integrity be maintained.
Russia, France and Croatia led off the talks, according to diplomats at the meeting.
Kosovo declaration prompts violent protests Across Kosovo's capital, Pristina, on Sunady revelers danced in the streets, fired guns into the air, waved red and black Albanian flags and honked car horns in jubilation at the birth of the world's newest country.
But the declaration of independence prompted violent responses from Serbians both in their ethnic strongholds in Kosovo and in Belgrade.
Meanwhile, hand grenades were thrown at buildings of the European Union and United Nations on Sunday in the Kosovo Serb stronghold city of Mitrovica, after Kosovo declared independence with EU backing.
The blast at a UN courthouse in the Serb-controlled north of Kosovo caused slight damage but no injuries.
Another unexploded hand grenade was discovered nearby, said Besim Hoti, spokesman for Kosovo police in Kosovska Mitrovica.
EU officials evacuated their building, which houses the team preparing a mission to supervise Kosovo's independence.
"Officials abandoned the (EU) building. Security guards said two hand grenades had been thrown. One had exploded," the source told Reuters.
Police sources said a vehicle belonging to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was damaged in the blast at the UN carpark.
French troops of the NATO-led peacekeeping force KFOR have prepared concrete and wire barriers to close off the bridges dividing Albanians and Serbs in Mitrovica in case of clashes.
Angry Serbs stoned the U.S. embassy in Belgrade to protest Washington;s backing of Kosovo's declaration of independence.
"Kosovo is the heart of Serbia," they shouted as up to 2,000 demonstrators, mostly young men, surrounded the embassy, which
was guarded by more than 500 police in full riot gear.
Some broke windows at the embassy. Demonstrators chanting patriotic songs appeared to be approaching the embassy easily through nearby side-streets. Traffic in a main boulevard nearby ground to a halt.
Kosovo's 10 minority Serb lawmakers boycotted the session, and Serbian
President Boris Tadic immediately rejected the independence bid as unilateral and illegal. Russia demanded an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
Kosavar PM: Belgrade will never rule Kosovo again Sunday's declaration was carefully orchestrated with the U.S. and key European powers, and Kosovo was counting on swift international recognition that could come as early as Monday, when EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels, Belgium.
Parliament speaker Jakup Krasniqi, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and President Fatmir Sejdiu signed the declaration, which was scripted on parchment, before the unveiling of a new national crest and a flag: a bright blue banner featuring a golden map of Kosovo and six stars, one for each of its main ethnic groups.
Speaking before the assembly, Thaci declared that Kosovo would never again be ruled by Belgrade.
"From today onwards, Kosovo is proud, independent and free," said Thaci. "We never lost faith in the dream that one day we would stand among the free nations of the world, and today we do."
In his proposal to parliament, Thaci said: "We the leaders of our people, democratically elected, through this declaration proclaim Kosovo an independent and sovereign state."
"This declaration reflects the will of the people," he said
At the commencement of the assembly, Krasniqi said: "Kosovo is turning a new page in its history. We are committed to a democratic state for all citizens, in cooperation with the international community."
Before the assembly, Thaci told reporters the new country would be democratic and multiethnic state.
"Kosovo citizens today await an independent, sovereign and democratic country, a state for all with equal rights," Thaci said. "It is time to take the decision to make Kosovo a member of the community of free nations."
Thaci has also called on Israel to recognize his nation's independence.
In an interview with Haaretz, Thaci said: "We would like and we expect Israel to be on board with all those democratic countries of the world which will immediately recognize Kosovo's independence."
He also said that under no circumstances will independent Kosovo be an Islamic nation.
The United States and most EU members are expected to quickly recognize Kosovo, despite failing to win a new UN Security Council resolution sanctioning the move due to a Russian block on its adoption.
Serbia calls Kosovo a 'false state' In a televized address to the nation on Sunday minutes after its mainly
Albanian province declared independence, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said Kosovo was propped up unlawfully by the United States which was "ready to violate the international order for its own military interests".
Serbs vow never to give up the territory, in which their history goes back 1,000 years. But the West supports the demand of Kosovo's 2 million ethnic Albanians for their own state, nine years after NATO went to war to save them from Serbian forces.
Meanwhile, Russia urged the UN to annul Kosovo's declaration of independence and said it could cause an escalation in ethnic violence in the region.
"We expect the UN mission and NATO-led forces in Kosovo to take immediate action to carry out their mandate ... including the annulling of the decisions of Pristina's self-governing organs and the taking of tough administrative measures against them," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
"The decisions by the Kosovo leadership create the risk of an escalation of tension and inter-ethnic violence in the province and of new conflict in the Balkans," it said.
Kosovo will be the sixth state carved from the former Serbian-dominated Yugoslav federation since 1991, after Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Montenegro.
Serbs in the north of Kosovo, adjoining Serbia proper, will reject independence, cementing an ethnic partition that will weigh on the new state for years to come.
Fewer than half of Kosovo's 120,000 remaining Serbs live in the north, while the rest are in scattered enclaves protected by NATO peacekeepers.
EU appeals for calm in Balkans European Union officials earlier Sunday appealed for calm in the Balkans following Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia.
"We appeal to all parties in Kosovo and in the wider region to remain calm and not to respond to any provocation," said EU spokesman Jens Mester. "The international community will not tolerate violent action in Kosovo."
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance, which has
16,000 peacekeepers in Kosovo, urges all parties involved to exercise the
maximum restraint and moderation.
The EU, which on Saturday endorsed a rule-of-law mission to Kosovo, will meet on Monday to discuss the territory's secession after years of economic and political limbo as a ward of the United Nations.
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